


Iron Man lives again!

by nygmaniacs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Character Death, Dark!Tony, F/M, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Resurrection, delusional steve, description of a dead body, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 01:09:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19162735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nygmaniacs/pseuds/nygmaniacs
Summary: Now the time is hereFor Iron Man to spread fearVengeance from the graveKills the people he once saved





	Iron Man lives again!

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, this is the longest thing I have written ever since 2013, I hope you all like it. 
> 
> Title and summary are from Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man'  
> The story is also based off of the song. 
> 
> also special thanks to this tweet by rdjstony https://twitter.com/rdjstony/status/1137418125811625984?s=19 which inspired this whole thing. I hope you like it and I hope I did it justice. Without further ado: enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> No beta, we die like men!

It had been five days since the battle of their lives. Five days since Thanos came through, ready to destroy the universe and anything existing in it. Five days since the tragic loss of Tony Stark, Iron Man, saviour of the universe, hero, _father_.

 

Stories like this always began with a dark and gloomy night, a storm brewing in the sky, lightning and a crack of thunder, the weather usually setting the mood for what was to come, an absurd way of foreshadowing. Not this one. This story began on a particularly nice day. The sun had been out all day, the sky a clear blue. It was warm outside, not too warm for it to get uncomfortable but a pleasant warmth which allowed you to go outside in a t-shirt.

 

Steve had never been too affected by the weather, the super-soldier serum helping him acclimate to any temperature (at least those considered normal, not the freezing cold of an ocean), but the weather wasn’t any of his concern at the moment, anyway. There were far more important things to worry about than the temperatures outside and whether there was a slight breeze going on or not. No, Steve’s mind was somewhere else entirely. It was constantly thinking about the rotting corpse of Tony Stark, stashed away in a morgue maybe a fifteen-minute drive away from the Avengers Compound.

 

The unofficial funeral at the Stark-Potts’ residence had been held two days ago but the thought of a possibility to bring Tony back had been a nagging constant in Steve’s mind. What if there was a way? If Tony had been able to figure out safe time travel through the quantum realm, then there surely must be a way to bring Tony back. The world needed him. The Avengers needed him. His wife and daughter needed him.  (And maybe, just maybe, Steve needed him, too.)

 

The nagging in the back of his mind wouldn’t stop and so he decided to go to Bruce to discuss this matter. They still had the stones, they could bring him back, there had to be something. Bruce had looked at him in sympathy the first time Steve had presented him with his idea, but Steve had grown stubborn (Tony’s influence) and he never let up. He got Bruce on board and together they had worked on a possible way to bring Tony back for the past three days.

 

Steve had been there when Thanos had used the time stone to bring back Vision to retrieve the mind stone, maybe this would work with Tony, too. Bruce had frowned at that idea and told Steve that this was too risky. They hadn’t had enough knowledge of the stones to know if this would completely undo Tony’s snap and, therefore, the whole purpose of his sacrifice. Steve had to begrudgingly agree. This had only been the first of many crazy ideas and theories.

 

The first two days they just threw ideas into the room, gave it some thought and then discard them just as fast as they had popped into their minds. In the end, the answer came in the form of Carol Danvers. She knew the universe and its infinite planets like the back of her hand. There wasn’t a cure for death per se but there was an elixir that could be a use for them. With the elixir, Bruce’s mind and skills in chemistry and Steve basically cheering him on from the side lines, it only took another day for it to be finished. Bruce had run some tests and it really was a hit or miss. There hadn’t been a clear result, every test spitting out different results but Tony was already dead, its not like there was a particular risk in trying it out. It was their only plan and either it worked or it didn’t. And if it didn’t, well, no one had to know they had tried.

 

That’s how he found himself sneaking into a morgue on a warm afternoon with a syringe of clear liquid in his pocket. The sneaking in part was fairly easy, it wasn’t often that someone tried to break into a morgue and the lack of security was, therefore, unsurprising.

 

The hard part was getting Tony’s body.

 

Not because it was difficult work but because Steve was hesitant to open up the compartment with Tony’s name on it and actually face his lifeless corpse. He exhaled and zipped up the body bag until he could see Tony’s face. It hurt, god did it hurt to look at him. His skin was cold, the burn marks on his left side looked grotesque against his sickly grey skin, there was crusted blood on his face and his eyes were glossed over- dead, staring up at the ceiling. Never blinking, never moving. Steve wanted to turn around and go home, curl up in his bed and forget all about this but he couldn’t. He was on a mission. He had to try. For the world, for Morgan and Pepper (for himself).

 

He took a deep breath and pulled the syringe from his back pocket. Bruce had told him that since there was no blood stream, he had to inject it directly into his heart. He zipped the bag up some more until enough of his chest was exposed. He had expected it but he couldn’t help but gasp at the burn marks that continued to travel down Tony’s body.

 

Steve wasn’t an idiot, it wasn’t hard finding out where the heart was but with Tony’s body it was fairly easy, he just had to find the circular scar where the arc reactor used to be. Sniffing, he removed the cap from the needle and with shaking fingers, he plunged the needle into Tony’s chest. Nothing happened, of course nothing happened. Tony was dead, what did he expect? For him to wince? Shout at Steve to knock it off and ‘has he ever heard something about consent’? No, nothing happened and Steve felt stupid for expecting a reaction.

 

He shook his head. “Come on, Steve. No better time like the present,” he whispered and with that, he pushed the plunger down and injected Tony with the modified elixir. Steve waited with bated breath.

 

Nothing happened.

 

Seconds turned into a minute. A minute turned into five, turned into ten, turned into twenty.

The super-soldier let his head hang. It was all for nothing, it didn’t work. He waited another fifteen minutes but still, nothing. With a disappointed sigh he moved to zip the body bag back up. He was halfway done when the right eye of the body under him started twitching.

 

He shrieked and jumped back, stumbling into a metal cabinet before regaining his composure and taking a cautious step forward. “Tony?”

 

The body didn’t respond and for a moment Steve thought he had just imagined the whole thing but then both of Tony’s eyes slowly closed and reopened. They were still glassy, still tinged with grey but they were moving. Tony’s mouth opened a fraction and it looked as if he tried to let out a long breath.

 

Steve couldn’t believe it. He was standing frozen next to his friend’s body and he jumped when his head lolled to the side, staring straight at Steve with his dead-looking eyes. Steve figured that his body would need time to adjust to being alive again and with time he would look more alive. His eyes would return colour and his skin would take on a healthier shade, for now, though, this was enough. Tony was responsive and moving, he was _alive_.

 

“Fuck, Tony!” In an instant he rushed to the man’s side and engulfed him in a hug. Not too strong, he didn’t want to hurt him or damage him even more, but a hug nonetheless. Tony just moved his head a little, a low groaning sound escaping his parted mouth.

 

“Sh, it’s okay Tony, it’s okay. You’re safe now, everything is going to be alright, I promise.”

 

Steve didn’t want Tony to exhaust himself already, coming back from the dead must take a toll on one’s body, so he heaved Tony up and escaped the morgue as fast and silently as possible. Tony made little to no noise, only the occasional groan, other than that he only moved his head a little, fingers twitching now and then. Give it a week or two and he would be back to original strength in no time.

 

There was a large grin on Steve’s face as he carried Tony back to the compound. Back to safety.

 

When Bruce saw Tony’s body in Steve’s arms, a look of shock crossed his face.

 

“Is that- is he-?“

 

A stupidly large grin spread out on Steve’s face as he set Tony down on a couch and draped a blanket over him. Tony sluggishly blinked up at them. “It worked! Bruce, it worked!”

He turned toward the doctor, smile still present on his face. Bruce stared down at the man lying on the couch, disbelief written all over him. Steve raised an eyebrow. He knew the tests had been messy but there had been enough successful results, so why was Bruce acting as if this was entirely impossible? He had given him the elixir with a 61% chance of success, that was more than half!

 

“You don’t look… very happy about it,” Steve remarked, voice grown colder just a fraction. Bruce shook his head and tore his gaze away from Tony who was still blinking up at them with those dead- no, alive eyes.

 

“I- I am but- I just can’t believe it. It worked. It worked!”

 

Steve smiled but his eyes were narrowed, there was something about Bruce’s tone that was bothering him. It sounded too… forced. So, he waited, sure that if Bruce had something on his mind, he would blurt it out soon enough if Steve didn’t respond.

 

“But I mean… he looks… dead,” he said eventually with the slightest bit of hesitation as if to not offend Steve. Steve snorted. Really? This was supposed to be a genius?

 

“Bruce, it’s been thirty minutes, give him some time,” Steve said.

 

The doctor nodded, mumbling a quiet “You’re probably right” under his breath as he made to leave. He added something about needing to run some tests later but Steve had stopped paying him attention, solely focused on Tony now.

 

He knelt down next to the sofa and stroked his hand through Tony’s hair to soothe the still groaning man. Bruce was right, Tony still looked pretty much like a corpse but Steve had faith that he would look much better in a few days.

 

He smiled down at the man and sighed in relief. The worst was over, Tony was back.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Tony didn’t look better after a few days, not even after two weeks. Sure, his skin got a little more colour but there was still a grey tinge to it and his eyes remained glossed over. He still looked like a corpse and his scorched left side didn’t help in the slightest but after three days he had started talking again. Not much compared to his talk activity pre-snap but a few words here and there, nonetheless. Sometimes even whole sentences.

 

Bruce had run his tests and hadn’t found any abnormalities. As far as they were concerned, Tony was in perfectly healthy condition. His heart was beating, his brain activity showed no signs of anything being wrong and he couldn’t find any aftereffects of Tony’s short time in the world of the dead. He was alive and kicking, except- he wasn’t.

 

Sure, he was breathing alright, he could say some words but it soon became clear that whatever he was, he wasn’t the Tony they had once known.

 

It had been two weeks since his resurrection now and he was too quiet, too distant. He didn’t ask about Pepper or Morgan for that matter. Morgan- his whole damn world, the reason why he decided to sacrifice himself. So she could live in a better world without the threat of Thanos and his army knocking down their front door again.

 

No, there was no mention of his family or his friends. He spent his time on a chair or a couch in the compound and watched. That’s all he did. Watch. Observe.

 

It unnerved Bruce and the rest of the Avengers (they hadn’t been happy when they found out. “You shouldn’t have left us in the dark about this, this is huge!”). Steve stayed optimistic. It was only a matter of time until Tony regained his strength and snark. It was only a matter of time until he started talking again like he used to and everyone would roll their eyes at his never-stopping stream of words. They just had to give him time.

 

But the weeks dragged on and nothing about Tony’s behaviour changed. He was quiet and observing, the only movement the occasional turn of a head or sluggish blink of the eyes. Anyone who didn’t give him a second look could’ve been left under the impression that someone played a morbid joke, dressing up a dead man and sitting him down into a chair to scare anyone walking by.

 

The Avengers grew antsy around him, all except Steve, of course. That’s how Steve ended up being Tony’s main caretaker. He washed him, changed him into a different set of clothes, moved him so he wouldn’t get sore spots and he talked to him. Tried to coax him into moving on his own, talk more. It was a hopeless case if you asked anyone else but Steve never lost his faith, convinced that it would happen any time now. It wouldn’t be long until Tony came back. It wasn’t long.

 

A month passed by and the Avengers decided to confront Steve. There hadn’t been a single change in Tony’s behaviour and the new Avengers recruits were unnerved by Tony, some even voiced that they thought of quitting.

Sam had sat down one afternoon to talk some sense into Steve. This wasn’t right. Nothing about Tony’s situation had improved and frankly, he should’ve never even tried to resurrect him in the first place. This was no life; this was worse than death. But Steve was a stubborn idiot and refused to listen. When Sam found out that Steve hadn’t even consulted Tony’s family, much less contacted them now after the damage was done, he had recoiled in shock (and maybe a little disgust).

 

“Steve, what the fuck? You-“

 

“Language.”

 

“-brought back this poor fucker from the dead and you didn’t even ask his wife if that was okay for her?”

 

“To be fair, you really think she would have let me?” And there was something about Steve’s expression, maybe the nonchalance, which made Sam want to punch him straight in the face.

 

“You ever thought that just maybe, she would have had a good reason for that? Look at him! Does this look like a good life to you? All he does is stare and drool! Is that what you want for him?”

 

“Listen Sam, I know you are mad and I guess I can see your point but any moment now and he will be back to normal. Bruce ran the tests. His brain activity is normal, there’s just something holding him back at the moment.”

 

Steve sounded so sure of himself it made Sam want to scream and tear is hair out. Couldn’t he see that whatever state Tony was in, it was a miserable one?

 

“You’ve been saying that for weeks and yet nothing has changed. The damage is done but you need to tell them, Steve. This isn’t right.”

 

It took a lot more shouting and convincing but, in the end, Steve gave in and promised to call Pepper and fill her in. About fucking time, if you asked Sam.

 

After Sam left, Steve went straight to Tony and asked him for advice. He knew this was a long time coming and he had been dreading it ever since the day he brought Tony back to the compound. Tony, of course, didn’t reply but he didn’t need to. His presence alone helped Steve calm down enough to pull out his cell phone and call Pepper.

 

The conversation that followed was even worse than the one he had with Sam but that was to be expected. A lot of swearing and shouting had been involved and at some point, Steve was sure that Pepper had broken down. The phone call ended with a “I’ll be there in 30 minutes” and Steve’s stomach dropped. Out of all the outcomes, this was the one he had anticipated the least.

 

He put his phone away and looked at Tony. Tony stared back, blinking slowly. Steve wondered what was going on in that brilliant mind of his’.

 

When the entrance door to the compound slammed open, Steve flinched. He could hear Pepper’s heavy and erratic steps coming closer every second. He couldn’t help but feel like a lamb being dragged to slaughter. He sent a last quick prayer to whoever was listening, straightened up and faced the dragon.

 

“Where is he?” She shouted, voice cold and furious. She came to a halt right in front of Steve, his body blocking the view to Tony for the most part.

 

“Rogers, I swear to god if you don’t-“

 

He stepped aside and the rest of her sentence was cut off abruptly. Steve could see her eyes getting wide, tears suddenly filling them as her hands started to shake. She took a cautious step towards her husband. He didn’t react. There were a few stray tears rolling down her face now but Steve had to give it to her, she kept her composure as she knelt down next to Tony, a hand slowly inching toward his face and stroking his cheek.

 

Tony didn’t react.

 

“Oh baby, what have they done to you,” Pepper whispered and Steve figured he wasn’t supposed to hear this but he did and he took slight offense to that. He had done absolutely nothing but save Tony. He was alive and well, not rotting in a morgue and definitely not rotting six feet under.

 

Pepper’s hands were still shaking as she continued stroking her husband’s cheek. Her head turned to Steve and he winced at the glare directed toward him.

 

“It’s only a matter of t-“

 

“Shut up, will you, Rogers?”

 

His mouth snapped shut.

 

“You decided- you decided to bring him back, and, well, I guess you did but did the thought of maybe asking for our consent first ever cross your mind?”

 

He opened his mouth to defend himself but Pepper raised her hand, signalling him to stop. He did.

 

“No, you don’t need to answer that. I know that you didn’t. People like you wouldn’t think of consent, sorry that was a stupid question,” her gaze fell back to Tony and she sighed. “People like you; they take and take and take and don’t ever acknowledge what is given to them. Tony is- _was_ the best husband and father I could have ever hoped for. Have I thought about wanting him back? Of course. But I recognise that this was something he had to do. Steve, he had to die. Unlike what you think, death gave him peace.

 

“And I know that’s hard to realise but with you always around, always asking for more? No, he wouldn’t have been able to rest. Tony chose to do this; he chose to sacrifice himself and you took that away from him. Do you see that? You took his choice away from him and now I am staring at my husband’s corpse and I can see: this is not him. It’s his body, his face but ultimately, it’s not him. Tony died on that battlefield, on his own terms.”

 

Pepper’s body was fully shaking now and if Steve wouldn’t have been so enraged, then he would have moved to comfort her. He clenched his fists to try and keep them from visibly shaking in anger, his jaw clenched. How dare she accuse him of going against Tony’s will and making this out as some selfish act. Tony hadn’t wanted to leave his family and daughter behind. Steve had given him a second chance.

 

As Pepper quietly wept over Tony’s body and the man blinked up at Steve, Steve decided that enough was enough. He had to show them that he did them all a favour.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The rest of the Avengers avoided Steve and Tony as best as they could. It was a disturbing sight, seeing Steve carrying Tony around, trying to feed him and holding one-sided conversations with him. Sometimes, he even laughed, as if Tony had made a funny joke but Tony never talked and at some point, they even questioned if he had ever talked or if that had just been a part of Steve’s imagination.

 

Tony did not talk and he sure as hell did not walk. The only movement he seemed to be capable of was turning his head and blinking. A twitch of the fingers here and there but nothing monumental. He was like a puppet with cut strings.

 

Bruce continued to run tests and the results were always the same. Steady heartbeat, normal brain activity, no sign of paralysis. He was perfectly healthy and yet, he remained still. His body remained cold, skin grey, eyes glassy.

 

Whenever an unfortunate soul came across him, they couldn’t help but shudder. His eyes, oh his eyes, they always followed movement. It raised the hair at the back of a person’s neck, chills running down their body. There was something calculating about his gaze and it made them wonder- was he capable of having thoughts? Was he, maybe, actually alive?

 

But as soon as those thoughts came, they went. Forgotten. No one wanted to pay him a second thought, pushing the memories of Tony’s unnerving presence far away into the backs of their minds.

 

A couple weeks after her fifth birthday, Morgan stumbled across her father for the first time since his death. Pepper had tried to avoid the Avengers Compound as much as she could but when a little girl wanted to see all her aunts and uncles, then there was no stopping her. Really, Morgan finally encountering her father was inevitable but Pepper had tried to drag it out as far as she could.

 

When Morgan’s eyes fell upon her daddy, everything else was left aside. A huge grin spread out on her face as she sprinted toward Tony and wrapped her tiny arms around his body. Pepper watched on with dread. Watched as Morgan buried her face in his chest, as she looked up at him to look at him more closely and as she recoiled at the sight. She watched as Tony did nothing but blink and stare and blink.

 

Morgan cried out and stumbled back to her mother hiding her face in Pepper’s coat. Pepper crouched down and wrapped her arms around her daughter’s tiny frame.

 

“Mummy, what is wrong with daddy?” She sniffled and Pepper’s heart broke. How was she supposed to explain this to her daughter? Explain that Steve fucking Rogers tried to bring her father back and instead, he turned into some kind of zombie. Pepper hoped Rogers would get what was coming for him, soon.

 

She shushed her daughter quietly and pulled her away from Tony, giving the body a last wary look.

 

“That’s not daddy, baby girl. Your eyes must have played tricks on you,” she said in a pained voice.

“I was so scared,” Morgan admitted, looking down at her shoes.

 

“I know baby, I know. Mummy is here,” she reassured and together they left.

 

The following day a very long and very angry email was sitting in the Avengers’ mailbox, no one daring to open it. This was Steve’s mess, not theirs.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Five months after his resurrection, Tony grew restless. He itched to do something, finally escape this hell hole. While the rest of the Avengers avoided him like the plague, Rogers was wrapped around his little finger. It was too easy considering he had done nothing to keep his affection but Rogers was a fool. Apparently, his presence alone could make him turn to putty in Tony’s hands.

 

He had grown to hate Rogers with every fibre of his being. Five months of pain and boredom, he didn’t know how much longer he could keep up this act. Ever since he had woken up, his world was nothing but pain. He hurt and ached and he missed the nothingness that was death. He missed the feeling of drifting and floating through a dark void without the endless pain that used to follow him everywhere he went.

 

And now, now that he was back, it was all amplified. The pain he used to feel was nothing compared to this. Every twitch of his body made him want to scream out in agony but that would blow his cover. He couldn’t blow his cover.

 

This was all Rogers’ fault.

 

Rogers who carried him around. Rogers who fed him. Rogers who never stopped talking and nothing that came out of his mouth was even remotely interesting. Yeah, Tony wanted to scream. This part was probably the worst about this entire situation.

 

The pain, he could deal with but Rogers and his stupid boring stories about his life before waking up from the ice really made his whole stay the most unbearable.

 

And then his family visited and Tony realised- he felt nothing for them. The little girl’s weight on his torso made his breath stutter as pain shot through every single cell in his body. There was absolutely nothing he felt and perhaps that should have been concerning but then again, it didn’t matter.

What mattered, was finally getting out. It had been long enough and his nightly sessions prepared him enough to not scream out during his escape. The compound was still connected to FRIDAY so sneaking about hadn’t been all that hard. She was still loyal to him. His baby girl.

 

It had taken him months until he had been strong enough to freely wander the compound at night. At first, he just took some trips to see how far he could come without collapsing. His radius grew bigger every night and after a couple of weeks he could walk around the compound with no problem. Then, he made it his quest to gather as much information about the people living in here as he could. His last quest was breaking into his old workshop and working on his prototype of the Mark 86.  

 

There weren’t a lot of differences between the Mark 85 and 86 but ever since waking up again, Tony started tinkering more and more. Adding more weapons, changing the design and colour scheme. The world knew him as Iron Man in all his red and gold glory. Nothing could have prepared them for what was about to happen.

 

So, after five months of wandering and working, his project was finished. The Mark 86 was completed and he was strong enough to leave and give his life over to the mission.

 

He rose from the ashes like a phoenix, finally free from the shackles the Avengers had become. No one would be safe from him; everyone would get what they had coming. The Iron Man was back and this time, there was no mercy left for his enemies.

 

He left the compound behind and for the first time in a long time, he felt free and at peace with himself. He knew what he had to do and there was no one standing in his way.

 

A court trial from years back came to his mind. Back when they thought the Iron Man suit was a weapon and they had wanted to take it away from him. Back then, he had told them that there was no technology even close to what he had created. Years later and there still wasn’t. The Iron Man suit was the single most dangerous thing on this planet. A twist here, a tweak there and no one could beat it, that he made sure of. To think that they had thought one of his first marks was that big of a threat level made him chuckle. They didn’t know what was coming for them. They couldn’t see the storm brewing on the horizon.

 

The ignorant, arrogant human race. Tony wondered how they had been able to survive this long with a superiority complex like that.

 

 

 

11 days since his reign of terror started.

 

7 days since he had killed the last of the world’s leaders. He was their leader now.

 

There hadn’t been a sight of the Avengers ever since their great loss on the fifth day. Tony made sure no one escaped unharmed. The witch fell first, Tony’s personal feelings for her overlapping with the mission. In the end, it was way too easy to finish her considering she had counted as one of their most powerful recruits.

 

Next came the hawk. Kill his family first, make him watch, he would come to Tony blinded by the thought of revenge. He would become careless and then Tony would give him the last blow. He was too predictable. Tony enjoyed the way his neck snapped and his body went limp in an instant.

 

The soldier, who had killed his parents, received a shot between the eyes. His friend, the falcon, was blasted out of the air. Unlike Rhodey back in the days, he didn’t survive the fall.

 

It was the twelfth day and the remaining Avengers came crawling out of their holes. Tony took great pleasure in breaking the King’s every last bone and leaving him lying on the dirt covered ground. Maybe this would teach him not to leave injured team mates behind in a cold bunker in Siberia, having them think they would die at any moment. Yeah, Tony was still bitter about that.

 

The rest dropped like flies. A blast here, a shot there, a stab to the gut, a breaking of a neck. And all the while, bombs dropped down all over the planet leaving people screaming and crying and dying. It was his mission. There was a content smile on his face.

 

One of them survived. One, he let escape and didn’t seek out for quite a while. He wanted Rogers to see what he had done. He wanted Rogers to feel the pain he had to deal with every damn day.  He wanted him to know that this was all his fault.

 

While Rogers wandered the earth, trying to help civilians as much as he could and thinking he went under Tony’s radar, Tony made sure to kill every last person Steve had tried to help.

 

The heavy boots of his suit alarmed the most of them of his arrival. It filled them with dread and fear. They tried to run, oh did they try, but no one was able to escape. Every person trying to run was outrun before they could even turn the first corner. Some begged, some bargained but the result was always the same.

 

Iron Man left nothing but death and destruction behind.

 

It was his mission.

 

It was his fate.

 

All those months he had spent in the compound, locked away from the world and being ogled at by his former team mates, he had wondered why he was bought back. What this all meant. What his purpose was. He knew now. He had spent all his life protecting life and it had ended with his death. This was his second chance. He could finally make it right.

 

Humanity did not deserve what they had. They had to learn and Tony was their teacher. He was never supposed to sacrifice himself over and over again to save them. He was supposed to destroy them because they did not deserve this. They did not deserve him.

 

 

On the 47th day, he stood face to face with the person who had started it all. Tony supposed he should thank him for giving him this chance. So, he did.

 

“What happened to you.”

 

It wasn’t a question. Tony’s dead eyes stared at the broken man in front of him, lips quirked up in a small smile. He gestured for Steve to go on.

 

“I brought you back, so everything could go back to normal. The world needed you, Tony and look at it now. You destroyed everything! You killed innocent people! You killed your friends, your team mates, even your family!” The Captain choked on a sob.

 

It was true, his family went on the 26th day. It was a fast and painless death. He had had no use for them anymore, and although he didn’t feel anything for them, he at least wanted to make it quick for them. They had meant something to him at some point, after all.

 

“I saved the world,” he replied, bored. “I rid it of its biggest plague. Now don’t try and sell me that bullshit of you doing it for the world, Rogers. I am not an idiot and you should know that by now. Your reasons were selfish. Don’t you think I’d never noticed the way you looked at me. Oh darling, I saw and I didn’t care,” he laughed.

 

Steve’s expression turned to one of dread.

 

“You did all of this, so we could what? Live together? Have a happy life? Apparently, you’re a bigger fool than I took you for. You mean nothing to me. And all of this? It’s your fault but you know that already, don’t you? So, thank you, Captain, really! Thank you for opening my eyes. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.”

 

The look of defeat on Steve’s face spoke volumes.

 

 

On the 47th day, Captain America hit the ground, the last thing he would ever see the lifeless eyes of his former friend.

 

On the 54th day, humanity was no more.

 

Tony stared down at his creation and couldn’t help the smile on his face. He could rest now.

**Author's Note:**

> requests/prompts? twitter @infjnitystark


End file.
